War as I Knew It

by George S. Patton

  I am convinced that Your Majesty and the French Government of Morocco share this opinion. So long as we are in accord on this point, we have only the brightest future to look forward to. I am impelled to the belief in this mutual accord when I remember that one of Your Majesty’s great predecessors presented to our famous President, George Washington, the buildings now occupied by the American Mission at Tangiers, and when I also remember that since the days of the great Washington, the accord and friendship with the French has been equally profound.

  I wish to take this occasion to compliment Your Majesty on the intelligent co-operation which his subjects have accorded to the Americans and also to express again my profound appreciation of the excellent bearing and splendid discipline of Your Majesty’s soldiers.

  One point of interest about the Sultan is that he is supposed to wear a beard but prefers to go cleanshaven, with the result that he gets by by using either hand clippers or a razor, and has a beard not over a thirty-second of an inch long. His mustache is equally abbreviated. He is also not supposed to wear European clothes, but has been seen by some of our officers and numerous French officers riding about the country on horseback, unattended, in English riding clothes. I am certain he speaks French and almost certain he speaks English. In fact, I have heard a rumor that he was graduated from Oxford under an assumed name.

  The tea on the afternoon of the ascension celebration was attended by nearly everybody of any importance. As I was unable to go, I asked General Harmon to attend for me. During the tea some screams were heard followed by two shots. The Sultan excused himself and walked out with great dignity and after a while returned. General Nogues asked him what happened. He said that one of the panthers in the museum had made a very beautiful leap of twenty feet and had gone through a hole and started to eat up one of the ladies of the harem, but some of the guards had shot it. The lady was only cut on the throat, and it made little difference, as she was not a wife, but a concubine. With this slight interruption the tea went on.

  The old kashas or forts are very interesting and really quite formidable obstacles. There are a good many of them in the country, particularly in the mountains. They have the Moorish type of crenelation, and have out-jutting towers about every two hundred yards of front. Some of the walls are ten feet thick.

  Some of these forts are alleged to be of Roman origin, but as yet I have never seen one that looked that old. The fort at Port Lyautey, which held out against us for three days and was finally taken through the use of a self-propelled 105 mm. gun, blasting breaches through which the 2d Battalion, 60th Infantry,2 assaulted with grenades and bayonets, is a very tough proposition. It had resisted six-inch naval fire, trench-mortar fire, and dive-bombers, and only yielded to the ever-victorious doughboy with the rifle and grenade. I did not go too closely into the question of who survived in the garrison, but doubt whether any of them did. In such a close fight a soldier has no time to change his mind.

  Owing to the fact that there is very little you can buy in Morocco, money has ceased to have value, and it is very difficult to employ help. We are making arrangements to sell the commodities which the Arabs mostly desire, namely: sugar, tea, rice, coffee, and cloth at a low price to Arabs who work for us. We will pay the Arabs in francs, and in this way rehabilitate the value of money.

  This morning General Keyes2 and I went to the Catholic Church, which was very crowded and unquestionably contained a large number of widows of men we had killed. Most of these people were quite young and dressed in black and were weeping, but seemed to have no animosity against us.

  M 7

  Madame Hardion, the wife of the Minister for Civilian Affairs, explained the situation by the fact that, after 1940, the French were so ashamed of themselves that they had no pride, and the women were more ashamed than the men; therefore, when we came they were delighted to fight with us in what she termed was a friendly manner. Seeing that they certainly lost between two and three thousand killed on shore, and at least five hundred killed at sea, while we lost better than seven hundred ashore in killed and wounded, I do not think that it was a very friendly sort of war. She insisted that it was, and that it had done a great deal to raise the morale of the French people. Particularly was this true of the French women, who formerly had been so disgusted with the men that they would not live with them. In view of the number of children on the streets, I can hardly credit this last statement.

  So far I have only seen one drunken American soldier, and he was being taken care of by two of his friends in a very creditable way. Our men have had a hard time, because only on the twenty-first did we get kitchens ashore, and we have no tentage except pup tents. However, they are in very good spirits, and the health of the command remains excellent except for a little diarrhea which lasts about a day and is, I believe, attributable to the water.

  It is very interesting to note the change coming over the soldiers. When they first got here, they were extremely sloppy, probably because of excessive fatigue, but within the last two days our efforts at smartening them up have borne fruit, and shortly, I believe, they will be a credit to any country.

  In the fields the plowing is done with the most peculiar combinations of animals. The peasants either use a horse and a camel, a burro and a camel, a bull and a camel, or a bull and a horse. I am informed that they cannot use two camels because they fight each other. Any animal hooked up with a camel becomes disgusted and loses interest in life.

  The French Army, particularly General Martin at Marrakech, has been extremely friendly. General Martin has given two parties to officers of the 47th Infantry1 from Safi, and has invited me and any of my staff to come and stay with him for an indefinite period. I am planning to visit him shortly.

  During 1940, General Martin commanded the 67th Moroccan Division, which was beaten. When General Anderson2 called on him, he brought out the flag of the division, which he no longer commands, and asked General Anderson to remove the crepe with which it was decorated. This was to be done as a sign that the shame of the division had been removed by the fighting which General Martin had done against us. He then cut the crepe in two and gave half of it to General Anderson. It was a very touching and, I believe, significant gesture.

  It is of interest to note that, on the twentieth, we unloaded thirty thousand men in thirteen hours, and since that time have been unloading supplies at the rate of forty-seven tons an hour in spite of the very bad condition of the harbor. The American Navy and the French Navy have done and are doing a splendid job. This naturally also applies to our own Supply Section.

  1Colonel E. H. Randle.

  2Major General J. W. Anderson, 3d Infantry Division.

  Requiem Mass, Honoring American and French Dead

  Held at Casablanca

  Headquarters Western Task Force

  November 23 1942

  General Keyes, Admiral Hall,1 and I met General Nogu&s, Admiral Michelier,2 and some of his Staff at the Casablanca Residency at 8:45 A.M. From there we proceeded with a police escort to the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. The streets were lined with French and American soldiers and military police. The Cathedral was crowded to the doors.

  The Bishop of Morocco, in full red robes, covered with a richly embroidered surplice and wearing a foursided red cap, met us at the door and conducted us to the front of the Cathedral. Here there were two biers: the American on the right, covered with an American flag, and with a guard of six American soldiers, and the French on the left, with a French flag and a similar guard.

  At the termination of the Mass, we followed the clergy out and entered our cars. A rather incongruous feature to me was the fact that in front of the people, when we entered and left, was a guard of Mohammedan cavalry on foot, armed with sabres.

  After waiting an hour in the Residency in order to give the people time to walk to the cemetery, we proceeded to the cemetery, where there was a battalion of American infantry and a battalion of French African infantry drawn up outside of the gate, preced
ed by a group of people of the French Legion, a counterpart of the American Legion. We walked about half a mile through the cemetery and halted between two flagpoles, American on the right and French on the left, each with the colors at the truck.

  1'Rear Admiral John Hall, Chief of Staff to Admiral Kent Hewitt, later in command of the ports.

  2Admiral Michelier, in command of the French Navy at Casablanca.

  General Nogues and I then placed a huge wreath on a tablet commemorating the heroic dead, and a red wreath was placed by the French Legion. When this ceremony was completed, the French band played our equivalent of Taps during which the flag was half-masted. Following this, they played the Marseillaise and the flag was run up to the truck. Our band then played Taps and the flag was half-masted. Following this, our band played the Star-Spangled Banner and the flag was run up to the truck.

  We then inspected the graves, American and French, stopping in the middle of each group of graves to salute. We were followed by a large crowd of people—several thousand, I should think.

  Each grave was properly marked with a cross, and in the case of our dead, a dogtag was on the cross. The names will be subsequently painted. We then returned to the gate, entered the automobiles, and proceeded back to the office. The whole affair was very solemn, and when I made the remark to General Nogues that I thought the intermingling of French and American blood had produced a very sacred sacrament, he seemed pleased and moved.

  Lunch with General Nogues, Rabat, Morocco

  Headquarters Western Task Force

  December 8,1942

  General Nogues asked me, General Keyes, and eight other officers to lunch at his house to meet His Excellency, M. Boisson, the Governor of Dakar. General Fitzgerald, Air Corps, flew us up in his plane, as he was also invited to the luncheon.

  We were received with the usual honors. In addition to ourselves, M. Boisson and the French generals, the Grand Vizier of the Sultan and the Chief of Protocol were both present. The Chief of Protocol is the man I had previously thought was the Grand Vizier. The Grand Vizier is the man who stands on the Sultan’s right at the head of the twelve apostles. He is a very smart old gentleman of ninety-two, and he speaks about the same amount of French that I do.

  When we first arrived, no one was paying any attention to him, so I went over and talked to him. During lunch he sat on Madame Nogu&s’ left, and I sat on her right. Again nobody talked to him. In leaving and entering the dining room, I was supposed to precede him, but took particular pains not to do so, which seemed to have an excellent effect on the old man.

  After lunch he sent the Chief of Protocol to ask if I would talk to him, which I did. One of General Nogues adherents was present and also an American naval officer who spoke French, but I talked practically directly to the old man. He said that His Majesty was very anxious for me to know that the whole life of Morocco depended upon maintaining peace. I assured him that I was a profound student of history; that since my earliest infancy my whole idea had been to maintain peace in French Morocco, and that I intended to do so by consulting the wishes of His Majesty through General Nogues. He said that when His Majesty heard these remarks from me he would be overcome with joyous emotion. I told him that I felt that whenever I could make His Majesty happy I myself was doubly glad. He then talked about the race antipathies—Jews—existing in Morocco. I told him that I fully understood those things because as a child I had been raised on a large ranch, which had the governance of twenty thousand sheep—which was not quite true, but had a good effect on the Arabs—and as a result of my acquaintance with sheep, I understood perfectly about race antipathies, and therefore I would do nothing about it because I felt that, since the Sultan’s ancestors have handled such questions for thirteen hundred years, they were better fitted than I was to continue their management. He said this was completely to his way of thinking and that no racial or tribal troubles would ever stick their heads above the surface.

  I then told him that it was very important for me to know what was going on in Spanish Morocco, and that I knew that he and the Sultan had better information on what went on there than anyone else. The Grand Vizier replied that there were certain natives living in Spanish Morocco, miscalled Arabs, who were always the cause of trouble, and that the Sultan would make it his special task to keep me informed of what these miscreants and their Spanish masters were planning, and that such information would be given me as if I were a member of the family.

  I then told him that, in spite of my most diligent efforts, there would unquestionably be some raping, and that I should like to have the details as early as possible so that the offenders could be properly hanged. He said that this was a splendid idea, and that the hanging of such miscreants would unquestionably bring great joy to all Moroccans.

  This conversation took about fifteen minutes, at the end of which time the Grand Vizier assured me that my complaisance had given him the happiest fifteen minutes of his life, to which I replied that if I had afforded happiness for fifteen minutes, I felt that I had not lived in vain.

  This all sounds very funny when you write it down and must have sounded a good deal funnier when expressed in my French, but it is exactly the way the Arabs like to talk.

  The Grand Vizier ended up by saying that it was necessary to converse with a great man fully to realize his greatness, and that there was an Arabic saying to the effect that those who said all men were equal were either fools or liars, and that he and the Sultan were neither.

  ‘‘Fete Des Moutons” (Sheep Festival) Held at Rabat

  Headquarters Western Task Force

  December 19,1942

  The Sultan invited me, the division commanders, and forty officers to attend the ceremony at the palace. It was felt that it would be more appropriate if the escort of honor should be furnished by the Americans. To this end I informed General Nogues that I would arrive at the airport at 2:15 and inspect the escort of honor,

  which was a company of the 82d Reconnaissance Battalion,1 then proceed to the Residency and pick up him and his officers.

  General Nogues and I rode in a reconnaissance car with top down, and we stood up. The escort of honor had a profound effect on the populace, it being the first time I ever heard the Arabs cheer.

  At the entrance to the palace enclosure, there was an escort consisting of a company of tanks, a battery of 105 mm. self-propelled guns, and a battery of 75 mm. assault guns, with the band from the 3d Division.

  We halted at the front of this force, which presented arms. The band rendered the usual honors and played the national anthems of Morocco, France, and the United States in succession.

  We then proceeded to the palace, leaving the escort outside. At the palace the usual ceremony with the Red Guard took place. We then paid our respects to the Sultan, who insisted on talking to me at considerable length, expressing his satisfaction that I, as a representative of the President and General Eisenhower, had been able to be present at the chief political and chief religious feast of his empire. I expressed the satisfaction which I felt the President and General Eisenhower experienced as a result of being represented, and that I felt that these fortunate instances were another illustration of the help which God had given our cause. I found that the mention of God with the Sultan is a one-hundred-percent hit.

  Two new Caids were commissioned, and when this was over, we moved outside the palace to a grass plot about as long as a polo field, but only about half as wide. This was completely surrounded by a crowd of Moslems with some French. A tent was provided for the visiting officers, and I, as representative of the United States, was given the principal seat.

  The Prince Imperial sat next to me, and he told me in excellent French that I was about to witness the most exciting spectacle in the world. The exciting spectacle was somewhat of a flop, but the ceremony preceding it was extremely interesting and ornate.

  1Lieutenant Colonel P. A. Disney.

  To our left, as we faced the arena, were the chief officials of
all the large cities and tribes of the Empire of Morocco, arranged in a column of platoons, so to speak. The band of the Black Guard played continuously, and besides the palace guards there was a regiment of cavalry, half of whom were lancers.

  Presently, a large number of Arabs, wearing red caps, rushed out of the palace gate and ran shouting toward us. They were followed by two men on foot, with about twenty-foot lances, held vertically; then came the Sultan dressed in Arab costume and mounted on a beautiful white stallion. The saddle and trappings were of pink silk, and a man walked behind him carrying a huge umbrella.

  As he approached, the Arabs all shouted and yelled, and the foreign officers saluted. When he reached the head of the column of platoons of the city delegates, he halted and a man on each side of his horse waved a white handkerchief. This apparently was the signal for the leading platoon of citizens to bow from the hips three times and chant something in Arabic. As soon as they had done this three times, the men in red caps rushed behind them and hustled them to the side, and the process was repeated with the next group, and so on for about twenty groups.

  The retinue of the Sultan was interesting. The Sultan is supposed to have seven horses, therefore he rode one and had four remounts, each caparisoned in silks of different colors, yellow, red, green, and purple. In addition to this he had a gold coach of the vintage of about 1400, I should think, with huge lamps on all four comers, and a place behind for two footmen. This was pulled by two horses, which were led by grooms. This accounted for the seven horses necessary for the Sultan’s state.